BOSTON — A member of the notorious MS-13 gang will spend more than eight years in prison after pleading guilty to racketeering conspiracy charges.
Federal prosecutors say 28-year-old Modesto “Snoopy” Ramirez was also sentenced to three years of supervised release Tuesday and will be subject to deportation to Honduras after completing his sentence.
Ramirez, a member of the Trece Locos Salvatrucha clique of MS-13, pleaded guilty to racketeering charges in May. The evidence included a recording made by a cooperating witness in which Ramirez discussed his intention and willingness to kill a gang rival.
Officials say a total of 49 members have been convicted as part of ongoing prosecutions of members of the clique. Ramirez is one of 40 members who have pleaded guilty, while nine were convicted at trial.
BOSTON — State officials say more people than ever before are buckling up on the road, but Massachusetts remains below the national average for seat belt usage.
The most recent study conducted for the state by the University of Massachusetts Traffic Safety Research Program determined nearly 82 percent of drivers and front-seat passengers used seat belts, up from nearly 74 percent a year ago.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, seat belt use nationally topped 90 percent in 2016, the most recent statistics available.
The latest survey found nearly 87 percent of women and nearly 78 percent of men buckled up.
WORCESTER — The mother of a 6-year-old girl who died in April has been held on $250,000 cash bail in connection with injuries suffered by the girl’s 9-year-old brother.
Shana Pedroso, of Fitchburg, pleaded not guilty in Superior Court on Tuesday to aggravated assault and battery on a child and reckless endangerment.
Her husband is scheduled to be arraigned Aug. 31 on charges of permitting assault and battery on a child and reckless endangerment in connection with the boy.
State troopers responded to the couple’s home in April to find the girl unresponsive. She died at a hospital, and her brother was hospitalized with serious injuries.
Autopsy results on the girl are still pending.
Pedroso’s lawyer did not argue for lower bail. He did not immediately return a call.
WASHINGTON — Police have made an arrest in connection with an early morning shooting at a state park in western Massachusetts that left a man fighting for his life.
The Berkshire district attorney says 19-year-old Kevin Nieves, of Pittsfield, faces charges including armed assault with intent to murder in the shooting at about 1 a.m. Tuesday in October Mountain State Forest in Washington.
The 19-year-old victim was taken to Berkshire Medical Center in Pittsfield where he underwent surgery and was listed in critical condition as of Tuesday. His name wasn’t released but police say he’s from Cheshire.
Authorities did not disclose a possible motive. Nieves is scheduled for arraignment Wednesday. It was not immediately clear if he had an attorney.
At 16,500 acres, October Mountain is the largest state forest in Massachusetts.
NEW LONDON, Conn. — The suspect in the fatal shooting of a man whose body was found in the basement of a New London home in December is back in Connecticut.
Police say 19-year-old Jamir Johnson was taken into custody Tuesday and charged with murder and other offenses in the Dec. 9 death of 21-year-old Quvonte Andre Gray, who was found dead of a gunshot wound to the head.
Johnson had been in the custody of police in Halifax, Massachusetts, since July 31, where he was a suspect in a series of car breaks. He is being held on $1.5 million bond.
New London police Chief Peter Reichard says Johnson had been a person of interest in the shooting, and investigators had tried talking to him “a number of times … to no avail.”
CHICOPEE — State police have released the name of the Maine woman who died in a two-vehicle crash on a Massachusetts highway earlier this week.
The victim of the crash on Interstate 395 north in Chicopee just after 6 p.m. Monday was identified Tuesday as 32-year-old Amanda Coward, of Poland, Maine.
Police say Coward was a passenger in a car that went out of control, struck a pickup truck and crashed into the guardrail. The pickup rolled over.
She was taken to a Springfield hospital where she was pronounced dead.
Both drivers suffered minor injuries. Their names were not released.
WELLS, Maine — Police in Maine say a fatal crash on the Maine Turnpike killed a 19-year-old man from Massachusetts.
The crash happened on Tuesday in Wells. Police say it killed Uriel Vasquez, of Brockton. They say the car was driven by 54-year-old Gabino Ortiz, also of Brockton, who was sent to a hospital for injuries that were not life-threatening.
Police say the men were working as drywallers and were headed to a job site in the area of Saco. The car crashed into trees off of a breakdown lane. Police say Ortiz was cited on suspicion of driving without a license.
From Associated Press